European Game Results

Johan Harju scored the game opening goal in Lulea's 4-1 rout of Farjestads. Somewhat unbelievably, Harju is still tied for 15th in the league in goals despite his putrid second-half production. Niklas Olausson had 1 goal and 2 assists for Lulea in the match. With just 4 games remaining in the regular season, Lulea holds the top spot in the Elitserien and a 5 point lead over 2nd place, which is a 3-way tie between Frolunda, Skelleftea, and Brynas. If the season ended today, the 1/8 matchup would be between Lulea and sub-.500 MODO, which holds a 18-22-11 record. Lulea draws Timra next on Tuesday.

JYP and Riku Helenius fell in a shootout 3-2 to Jokerit. Ex-Sens prospect Ben Eaves scored the shootout winner for Jokerit. Ex-Lightning forward Eric Perrin assisted on both JYP goals. JYP faces Assat on Tuesday. They currently sit in 5th on the SM-liiga table, in line for a first round playoff bye.

Vasily Koshechkin stopped all 3 shooters he faced in the penalty shot session to lead Cherepovets to a 4-3 win over Astana. Ex-Lightning forward Brandon Bochenski scored his league leading 26th and 27th goals of the season in defeat for Barys. Cherepovets faces Chelyabinsk on Sunday.

Andrei Shepelenko scored 1:50 into overtime to help hand Cherepovets and Vasily Koshechkin a hard luck 1-0 loss. The goal came just 1 second after Cherepovets had completed killing off a Ekaterinburg power play. Again, hard luck. Cherepovets faces Astana on Friday.

Johan Gustafsson made 29 saves to lead Lulea to a 2-1 win over Frolunda. Coming down to the final few games of the regular season, Lulea faces Farjestads on Saturday. They currently hold down the top spot on the league table by 5 points over Frolunda, which is why today's win is so big.

Ex-Lightning prospect Eero Somervuori had 1 goal and 1 assist in a first star effort to lead HIFK to a 3-2 win over JYP. The game marked a rare loss for goaltender Riku Helenius. Ex-Lightning forward Eric Perrin also had a goal in the game for JYP. They face HPK on Tuesday.

Nikita Nesterov was -1 with a minor penalty as Chelyabinsk Jr. took a humiliating 5-1 loss at the hands of Stupino. The defenseman has been stuck at 30 points for a few games now. He'll have to wait until Tuesday against Khabarovsk Jr. to see if he can snap out of his slump.

It hardly seems possible, but Nikita Kucherov was out of the lineup for CSKA Jr.'s punishing 10-1 win over Novosibirsk Jr. I know some young men from Siberia who regret getting off the team bus today. CSKA Jr. gets Novokuznetsk Jr. on Monday.

Vasily Koshechkin suffered the rare case of losing a game despite posting a shutout in Cherepovets' 1-0 shootout loss to Mytischi. The netminder stopped 4 of 6 chances in the shootout, but could not hold Alexei Kovalev and Dmitri Upper out in the defeat. Koshechkin did finally manage to catch fellow Lightning prospect Riku Helenius in shootouts, posting his 6th of the season, but he's still 13 points behind Helenius in save percentage despite a more than respectable .926 save percentage for the season. Cherepovets faces St. Petersburg on Friday.

In Chelyabinsk, neither Nikita Kucherov nor Nikita Nesterov got the call for the matchup between their KHL sides where the polar bears thumped CSKA 5-3.

On this Valentine's Day, I think we all can find something to love in the continued resurgence of goaltender Riku Helenius, who posted 16 saves en route to JYP's 4-1 win over TPS. Ducks draft pick Sami Vatanen scored 2 goals in the match for JYP. They face Ilves next on Friday.

Nikita Kucherov had a power play goal and a minor penalty in CSKA Jr.'s 4-2 win over Chelyabinsk Jr. Fellow Lightning prospect Nikita Nesterov was -1 and took an unspecified game misconduct at 16:35 of the match. We'll see now if Kucherov returns to CSKA's KHL team and whether Nesterov faces disciplinary action after today's result. CSKA Jr. faces Omsk Jr. next on Thursday while Chelyabinsk Jr. draws KHK MVD Jr. on Thursday, as well.

Today's head-to-head matchup of Lightning prospects comes on the heels of Saturday's MHL All-Star Game where the West defeated the East 4-2. Nikita Nesterov was -2 with a minor for interference for the losing East side. Nikita Kucherov did not suit up for the match, but his teammate Nikita Gusev had a pair of helpers for the victorious Team West.